


Going Home

by KieraElieson, Kisafander



Series: Big Bang [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Captivity, Classism, Claustrophobia, Dehumanization, Dehydration, Drowning, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Loss of Control, Miscommunication, Multi, Ocean, Sirens, Starvation, Underwater, Whump, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25859011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisafander/pseuds/Kisafander
Summary: Virgil had always loved the ocean. The waves lapping at the sand was the backdrop to most of his life, so what does he have to fear from it? He’s lived with it in his backyard for all of his life. Well, there can apparently be… a lot to fear if you underestimate its power.And that’s especially true when you’re in so deep that you can’t tell which way is up. At some point, he’s gonna have to take a breath, and when he does, he knows it’ll probably be his last. Virgil just wishes there was someone there to help him… maybe… there is someone… But not anyone he would ever expect.But, can he last long enough to ever repay them? …Will he even want to?All the pictures are by @kieraelieson on tumblr, my Big Bang Tumblr artist! Check out @ts-storytime on there as well for more info on the Big Bang Event.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders
Series: Big Bang [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876462
Comments: 34
Kudos: 68
Collections: Storytime! 2020, TSS Fanworks Collective





	1. Chapter 1

**__ **

**_Splash!_ **

**_What’s…._ **

**_....happening?_**

**_Where?_ **

**_I…_ **

Virgil opened his eyes. Where… where was he?

Slowly his brain kicked in and told him what he was feeling and seeing. He felt surrounded and enveloped by something wet… wait water? His eyes stung as he opened them and everything was blurry. 

For some reason, either his eyes weren’t working or he was somewhere really dark cause he couldn’t see a thing. A passing thought suggested he was dead, but Virgil felt too confused and… achy for him to be dead. He realized he felt his limbs were passively moving, wait... floating? 

Finally his brain kicked into high gear as he realized where he was, _Wait! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I’m drowning!_

In his panicked state, he almost instinctively took in a deep breath, but he realized before he could fully complete the action. He knew he couldn’t hold his breath forever though, at some point he would have to breathe.

But for now, he had to get to the surface.

**Looking around, however, only the dark expanse of the sea met his eyes. No matter where he looked, he saw nothing but a black plane of emptiness.**

He felt like he was suspended in an endless dark abyss with no way out. He couldn’t even tell which way was up! 

His previous panic hit him full force once again and his instincts took over his body as he took in a desperate breath. This only resulted in his lungs filling with saltwater and kicking his body into an even higher gear of panic as he started to almost uncontrollably flail to try and find his way to the surface.

Virgil mentally cursed his lack of knowledge on what to do if you're too deep in the ocean and can’t find which way was up. 

_You look up the statistics on shark attacks and how best to get back to shore if you go out too far and countless other things, but you don’t look up how best to save yourself from drowning? Idiot!_

Virgil whipped his head desperately from side to side, trying to find any indication of light or which way was up. As he did so, he felt a weird sensation, and as he looked for it’s source, dimly saw an air bubble from his mouth travel…. up(?) his arm and then drift free out of sight.

Oh, he was upside down.

_Great._

His breathing forgotten for the moment, Virgil pumped his arms desperately but with purpose to guide himself upright. As he did, he saw that there _was_ a little bit of light filtering down to him that he didn’t see before. Above him he saw the shifting of the surface of the water and it wasn’t far! Or at least not as far as he first thought he was underwater.

Virgil started to kick his legs, ignoring the increasing burning sensation that came from his continued refusal to breathe in yet. His arms felt odd as he also pumped them to propel himself to the surface, but he couldn’t think about that at the moment as he _needed_ to get to the surface.

But as he pushed himself towards the surface, he finally felt his lungs start to really burn and the instinct to breathe in again became overwhelming to an nth degree. Without his permission, Virgil’s mouth opened and he felt his airway fill with saltwater and his body both was screaming for air and screaming at the saltwater that had now invaded his lungs. 

**His brain floundered at the sudden invasion and he suddenly had the stark realization that he was about to die.**

_No! I’m drowning, dying! Can't breathe. Need to. Fuck!_

Virgil chest felt as if a giant hand was compressing down directly on his chest as it also felt like it was being ripped in two at the need to fucking breathe! He finally registered that he was in an uncurrent as he felt himself pushed against the water in front of him, which did not help how his chest now felt.

Gaping at the surface as his mouth uselessly moved as he desperately tried to breathe, Virgil’s vision was slowly being overtaken by the black on the edges of his vision. At each breath he tried, the edges of his vision pulsed reddish white. His stomach felt like it was flipping end over end that he marveled at how he wasn’t throwing up his last meal.

Virgil realized how suddenly stiff his body suddenly was when he tried to panickingly push himself upwards in one last big burst of energy. 

His throat felt as if someone was reaching into his neck and gripping his esophagus and squeezing the life out of it. His heartbeat was roaring in his ears, he couldn’t really hear anything over the roar. 

His body felt like it was rebelling against him piece by piece. He was cold and his body felt weirdly distant and numb, and Virgil couldn’t get his body to respond to him. Virgil’s vision slowly narrowed to a pinpoint and he only saw small flashes of light as he tried to look around for _anything._ He registered that his fingers felt like they were about to burst as he slowly felt more and more distant from his body.

He vaguely realized everything had fallen silent, he didn’t hear his heartbeat anymore or anything. What he did hear was a rush of water near him and a inhuman sound to his left.

As his vision faded for good, he saw something block the light from the surface before he finally succumbed to his certain death by drowning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil wakes up, which is surprising, and meets someone or something he's never seen in person

The next thing he remembered was a distant sound, as if far off down a tunnel. That was a surprise, because the last thing he remembered, he was surely dead right then from drowning. 

So Virgil decided this was the afterlife then. Well, Virgil might as well open his eyes to see what it looked like. 

Unfortunately, his eyes protested that as they felt were swollen shut by how heavy they felt. He felt so cold and tired. Virgil just wanted to go back to sleep. Perhaps he was still on that cusp of death where everything felt stretched into infinity all in one moment.

He felt like he was suspended, no feeling of anything around him.

Being cold wasn’t something Virgil thought would be something he would feel in the afterlife, though he didn’t necessarily believe in any religion, afterlife or otherwise, he was sure an afterlife would be at least a little warm, but instead his body felt as if it were dunked into a vat of freezing water. Though, Virgil supposed that was partly true to what happened, as he had felt particularly cold when he woke up drowning. Also, the swollen eyes feeling was not something that would belong in an afterlife either so...

That begged the question: Where was he if he wasn’t in an afterlife?

He realized distantly that his breathing had escalated in panic and he felt short of breath all of a sudden, and that coupled with just drowning, whenever that was, was not a good mix. Virgil sluggishly flailed his arms and legs as he suddenly felt the need to grab something, anything to ground him and allow him to focus on something. But he found nothing to grip.

What he did register was a rushing sound around him, muffled, but it was there. Someone was here. Virgil was sure of it.

Once again, Virgil tried to peel his eyes open, but his eyes would  _ not _ cooperate. 

All too suddenly, he heard something through the water, it sounded like a song, but it was 10 times as layered and as beautiful as Virgil had ever heard. 

**The song felt like it was cradling his mind back down into sleep as Virgil relaxed and did indeed drift off to the sweet sound he was hearing.**

-

The next time Virgil awoke, he felt much better than when he first awoke. He felt less laden by some blanket of weight on his limbs that probably came from nearly drowning. 

This time, he was able to pry his eyes open. But what he saw was not at all what he was expecting.

He was still underwater, judging by the slight rippling around him, that fact alone set Virgil’s heart racing. But before Virgil could start to panic, he realized that if he was underwater, he wouldn’t be able to see a ripple around him unless…

Virgil reached out, noting how he found no difficulty moving it, no feeling of parting the water, just open air. Curiously, as Virgil reached out, the film around him retreated, not allowing him to touch it. 

_ Huh.  _

Virgil was numbly curious a moment more before it suddenly hit him exactly what was happening. 

**He was underwater, contained in some type of bubble thing at probably the bottom of the ocean where he couldn’t touch the bubble to even try to move.** **Virgil looked down at his feet and saw that he was floating as well, as if he was truly in the water, yet he knew that he wasn’t.**

That’s when it hit him, he was trapped. Truly trapped. 

_ I’m trapped. I’m gonna die here. Die at the bottom of the ocean after whatever’s here does what it wants with me. What does it want? To toture me? To eat me whole? To see me squirming as it lowers me to my death in it’s watery depths? Why am I still alive? I can’t- I can’t- I can’t- _

Virgil felt for what felt like the millionth time that day that he absolutely could not breathe. He felt as if the world was closing in, that the ocean was suddenly pressing down on whatever bubble thing was around Virgil. He was dying, he was sure of it. Whoever had him here wouldn’t have just captured him unless they needed him. 

And anything Virgil thought about why they would need him alive weren’t positive reasons.

Just as Virgil felt his panic swell to it’s height, he lashed out at the bubble, trying to claw at it, pull at it, do  _ something _ to it. He would go out on his terms before he would let himself suffer at the hands of his captors. 

**But no matter how desperately he struggled, stretching his arms out to find some purchase around him, his hands met nothing.**

Feeling desperate and like he had nothing left to lose, he starts to yell wordlessly and scratch at himself trying to feel something other than queasy weightlessness.

He didn’t really register the pain, though he was sure there was supposed to be, but the only thing he felt was the urge to breathe and the overwhelming knowledge that he was going to die. 

Everything felt distant as he vaguely registered through his panic that something was in the room. In response, Virgil violently whipped his head up to see the face of the monster that was no doubt coming to quiet him by drowning for the second time. 

What he saw instead was confusing as well as affirming what Virgil feared was holding him there. 

From the waist up, they looked like a normal human, same face structure, same kind of pigment, no odd colors like green or blue, just the natural melanin of a human. However, from the waist  _ down _ , was an entirely different reality. From the waist down, they have a jet black tail, like an orca, with the white coloring on it as well. They have similarly jet black hair and look visually male presenting. 

When they see Virgil, they rush forwards, which causes Virgil to flinch back, expecting to be hit or bit as the mermaid’s teeth are visually and obviously sharper than a humans, meant for tearing things apart to be eaten. And they were going to  _ eat him- _

“Stop!” Virgil yells desperately.

But instead of popping the bubble to get to him or anything, Virgil sees through the bubble film that the mermaid has their eyes closed with a hand on the bubble.

“What? Get away from me! What are you...” Virgil starts to yell before the mermaid creature opens their mouth and that familiar song starts to curl around him through the bubble.

His thinking suddenly slows, but he still recognizes what’s happening to him. His body is suddenly very slow to move, feeling distant and heavy. 

**Virgil managed to look at the mermaid that he vaguely realized was actually a siren as their voice curled around his mind, giving him thoughts of comfort and peace as his eyes drift close and he drifts into a mostly dreamless and peaceful sleep.**

  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elliot was a simple guard, he was useless otherwise.

They were just a simple guard. 

Well, no, that was a lie. They was a half siren on their mother’s side and had the talent even no one believed them as it was so weak that only the weakest merpeople were only gently swayed by their singing. Animals were more susceptible in general, but even they weren’t swayed much by their voice.

But they didn’t usually dwell on that as it was just a part of life for them now as he was more than proficient as a guard than at their virtually nonexistent talent. And they was entrusted to guard the newest find, which gave them pride to be entrusted with guarding something important.

Their tail flicked particularly excitedly as their heart swelled with pride at the thought, the cord around their upper arm tickling them as they did so. They had to stifle a laugh at both the feeling within them and the sensation on their arm.

But their amusement was cut short as they felt the water shift just the slightest bit around them, as if the bubble in the room was trying to be popped by whatever they had caught, though even a baby mer knew bubbles actively fought anything trying to escape them.

Immediately, Elliot was on alert, turning and cautiously entering the room, just in case whatever was being held there had escaped in the time it took to notice the shift in the water. But instead, Elliot met an odd sight.

Within the bubble was an odd merperson, they looked like a merperson from the waist up, but instead of a tail, they had some weird double tail that had no visible tailfin on either of them. They also had some kind of covering that covered everything, even their arms, as if they were a guard of the outer city. 

What was alarming was the fact they were in a bubble of poison, as Elliot knew that glint of light from the times he had been close to the Poison Sea, though others called it the Upper Sea. Elliot preferred the moniker ‘Poison Sea’ from their encounter with it when they got curious and peeked through the barrier.

When they had, their gills had stuttered almost immediately as they screamed for oxygen, and as they were stunned, their head felt like it weighed a thousand whales had piled onto it. All of this made Elliot pull back and vow to never go so near to the Poison Sea again.

Now all of that said, Elliot almost rushed to the bubble to pop it to get the strange mer out of the poison before he noticed that the strange mer had no gills.

**_Is this some strange mer that lives in the Poison Sea?_ **

Elliot noticed that they were producing some kind of muffled  _ whooshing _ noise, their chest moving up and down as if their gills were impaired despite the fact they didn’t have any visible from what they could see. It sounded every so often like they were pushing sound out of their throat, but instead of words, they were just making that weird whooshing sound.

On an instinct they didn’t even know they had, they started to sing, to try to calm them. 

Almost instantaneously, the stranger mer froze, and Elliot watched as they continued to sing their features, relaxing from pure panic to lax calm and pure relaxation. Elliot almost faltered as they did, cause they had never been able to do that, no matter how hard they tried. 

And despite all their sensibilities of being the bigger mer and not letting weaknesses cloud their opinion of others, they couldn’t help but wonder how weak this mer was to be swayed by their voice. 

They slowly uncurled themself as Elliot continued to sing, falling unconscious once more, their limbs slowly coming back to their sides. Soon, they were completely relaxed, and only then did Elliot let their voice die away.

**A thrill bubbled up from their tail and up into their chest, the realization that they just** **_did that_ ** **. They just charmed something, something that wasn’t just a tiny fish or a newborn mer. A full grown merperson!**

But then they realized, they did that, without permission. They had been told to guard the acquisition and to not interfere with it, and they just charmed it! Their heart raced as they suddenly realized they couldn’t be here and propelled themselves as fast as they could out of the room back to where they were.

And to their relief, there was no one outside or nearby to catch them as they got back to their post. But as if right in the nick of time, a mer he recognized from the research and science team came around the corner excitedly, but somehow was still remaining professional as they hurried towards where Elliot had just exited. Elliot was curious on what exactly the research scientist was doing, but they remained at their post as the only reason they were able to go in in the first place was because no one was there to see or stop them.

As Eilliot passively monitors the hall, they hear some slightly muffled noises from within the room and have to use a little effort to not whip around and peek into the room. They didn’t have to look, they didn’t have the authority to know, so they should just focus on their job. 

Both before they knew it and after an eternity of waiting the next guard shift was coming, the researcher had not been alone, with other authorized personnel going in and out throughout Elliot’s shift, but in the lull right before shift change, Elliot heard some muffled sounds in that room once more. 

They felt that shifting of the water they had felt before, but this time instead of dying out, it was consistent this time and as Elliot’s concern began to rise, it spiked when he heard the weird whooshing sounds from within the room. For a long moment, Elliot again considered what they should do as they knew the mer was in distress once more.

And like before, Elliot responded to the distress of the mer by once again entering the room. When they entered, they immediately knew the mer was incredibly distressed, particularly at the bubble. The mer was flailing and clawing at the bubble encasing them, not caring that it always fruitlessly retreated just out of reach. 

**Elliot’s heart ached as they saw the stark distress and fear painted across the mer’s face.**

The mer also seemed to scratch at their arms in distress, which Elliot was doubly concerned for.

The mer was undoubtedly conscious now, eyes flickering and darting around, but it took a long moment before the mer recognized there was someone else in the room, and by then Elliot had come closer to them. 

Closer than the mer would’ve liked it seemed as the mer bared their surprisingly dull teeth and started barking in the whooshing language that Elliot supposed was them trying to speak as their lips moved in a mouthing of sounds. The whooshing was louder now and Elliot could make out the approximate sounds, but they sounded all wrong, they were muffled compared to other mers, as if the poison sea had affected their speaking ability outside of it.

The mer clawed at the bubble once again, yelling angrily at them, which Elliot took as their cue to sing once again. They tried to hold back, not wanting to knock them completely unconscious not to wake up for a while, but they couldn’t tell if they succeeded as the mer was still ridiculously sensitive to their call, relaxing almost immediately as they heard Elliot’s voice.

When Elliot fell silent for a moment everything was silent until Elliot noticed a distant voice from down the hall, which meant the next shift was coming, and Elliot could not and  _ should _ not be in there. 

Elliot hurried back to their post, tail straining to get back before the next shift got there.

Just as they got back where they were posted, the guard replacing them came around the corner, face blank like Elliot’s. Even so, Elliot sees a flicker of confusion in the guard’s expression, but thankfully they don’t press as Elliot swims aside, letting the guard replace him at the post without a word, heading back to the guard room and leaving that strange looking mer behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton is the royal librarian, he loves his job, but...

****

**The library was quiet. After all, libraries were meant to be quiet** **.** To allow those inside to read and not be distracted, and that was never more true in the royal library, where noise was a sneerable offense at least and punishable by jail time at most. 

Patton was well aware of this, but he needn’t worry.

The library was full of royal scientists and officials that could  _ not  _ be disturbed while researching whatever information they needed to glean from the scrolls of the library.

This was Patton’s every day deal, place any books borrowed back in place, make sure no one stole any books or at least took a scroll of the books, read to the royal children when ordered to, which he was always willing to do already, honestly. But even still, those who judged him by his tail never thought he was the librarian, which he thought odd as he always had a royal pin that signified his status so he didn’t have to disturb the silence to explain but not everyone listened or abided by the rules. The Royal Librarian.

“Do you know where a scroll on the Isela is?” Patton was startled, as he had caught himself up in a particularly interesting scroll. One of the many stories of merkind that weren’t their history, but merely a story to learn from. Patton brought his head from it’s slightly hunched over position to his right where a mer with a shimmering and glittery tail, the telltale sign of a royal or a fortunate royal attendant of the royal family.

Patton couldn’t help but look at it’s shimmering despite his daily interaction with royal mers. He didn’t look for long, holding a professional expression as he gestured in a way that indicated the library’s rules, but the other mer didn’t even bat an eye until Patton started to lead them to the section indeed on the Isela, a small race of a kind of special mer that was almost extinct at the moment for some unknown reason. 

As Patton swam, his tail automatically maneuvering around the shelves, he thought on the attitudes of royals, including the royal Patton was leading to the information he sought. They had it in their heads that their shiny tails made them more important than other mers and the power they already had proved they deserved to remain in power. Patton disliked the belief, but as long as they never harmed others, it was not his place to question the royals conviction of life and motives. He was only the Royal Librarian. And that’s all he would ever be, all he wanted to be.

Patton came out of his reverie to realize that he had automatically taken himself and the mer to the correct location of the scrolls with any information. He gestured toward the shelf with the sought information and made a gesture asking the royal what information they sought. The royal, however, ignored him, again speaking too loud for the silent library environment as he requested “I just need a scroll on their eating habits for my schooling, can you find one for me and I’ll be on my way?”

Patton nodded, stomach twisting a little at the order, which from a royal he could not refuse, but the mer was more than capable of doing it himself, as scrolls were clearly labeled categorized by relevant information, but yet the royal mer wouldn’t even consider doing things himself.

Patton scrolled through history scrolls, diplomatic actions and the conflict when mers and the Isela first interacted. Finally finding a single scroll on the Isela’s eating habits and carefully extracting it, flashing the most cheerful smile he could get away with in the formal setting, though his face demanded his smile be wider, his dimples deeper, but he had learned from the get go that the library was considered formal and things such as smiling openly were rude at worst and distracting at best.

Holding the scroll out to the mer, Patton waited for the royal mer to take the scroll, but as seconds stretched on, Patton grew confused. He has gotten what was requested, what was the problem? 

Patton looked over to the mer to see the mer glaring at him, for what he didn’t know, but Patton felt unprofessional and dumblooking for holding out the scroll without the mer taking it, so he pulled it back to himself and gestured what was wrong. The royal mer continued glaring, seeming oblivious to the messages in Patton’s gestures, waiting a moment longer before almost growling out. “I don’t have to carry the scroll, that's your job, you must accompany me to my quarters to move it there after it is checked out under Evano.” 

Patton’s gut twisted even more at the words, the implication that Evano and royal mers deserved not to be burdened with carrying a simple scroll to the correct place made his conscience yell at him that he should say something, but instead he harkened back to the rules of his position.

The genuine smile on his face had long since become a fake one as he faked the professional cheerfulness mixed with feigned apology as Patton minutely shook his head as spoke in a whisper enough that Evano could hear.

“My humblest apologies, unfortunately, my position and the guidelines set by that position are that I cannot exit the library to assist someone personally unless I am given an express permission or order to do so. I would’ve been happy to assist you in bringing the scroll to your quarters, but unfortunately at the moment it is impossible for me to do so.” Patton hoped his phrasing was cordial enough as he spoke that Evano could not see his refusal as a personal refusal, but simply an occupational one.

And when Evano simply glared at Patton for a long moment, Patton thought Evano had and braced for a verbal tongue lashing. But instead Evano simply grumbled and sntached the scroll from Patton’s hand as he had extended the scroll back at Evano, careful to make his movements gentle and not allow for an interpretation of disrespect within his movements.

Patton watched the mer go, seeing a mer at a nearby shelf of scrolls glance at him, but thankfully not thinking much of him as Evano had been loud, and Patton was never loud. He didn’t want a false witness to  _ him _ supposedly being loud. He loved this job and would hate to lose it.

His job was one he loved, which was good, as that meant days usually went by faster than they felt, partly due to being comfortable and partly due to being able to lose himself in the scrolls of the library. 

**But his favorite task was when the royal children came and asked them to read to them, tails flashing and flailing in excitement when they requested whatever story they either wanted to hear again, or have him read for the first time** **.** They were much like him with scrolls, a balance between reading new stories and enjoying and rereading old ones.

His favorite part when he read to them was the little reactions the mer’s had to anything shocking. A little smile at a fun and good part, and a distressed look when the villain of the story was fighting and/or winning against the hero of the story. Patton never got old of them, as there was always a new story that the mer’s would become invested in and insist Patton read.

But even those little moments, while the were absolutely treasured in Patton’s heart was the event a few years ago where he was able to read to some poor children in a small program to visit the palace. They had been so scared and so hesitant, none of them wanted to choose a scroll and most of them went wide-eyed when Patton had pulled a scroll out to read to them, one of the mers with a tail similar to Patton’s even started to silently cry, which was distressing twofold as Patton had no idea why they were distressed and knew they had never set foot in a library by their own admission, so Patton knew that they didn’t know about the quiet rule. That meant this was how they cried, which meant that something had taught the child that crying aloud was bad. And Patton would not stand for that kind of abuse.

Patton had gone up to the mer, who’s distress visibly spiked at seeing Patton approach. Patton had quickly comforted the mer, asking why they were distressed. The mer had replied that they didn’t have the money to pay for the book and they didn’t want to get in trouble. Patton had assured them that they didn’t have to pay for the book, as long as the scroll stayed in the Library, no one had to pay to read it. 

That had comforted the child and as Patton has started to read one of the stories the royal children had never requested, he realized how the story could relate to the children’s circumstance without him intending the story to relate.

The story was of the hero coming from a poor family that worked hard to provide, but having to work at a very early age to help their family. The hero had a lucky break and suddenly was rich, but the sudden wealth went to their heads and they withdrew from their family, only giving them a little. Quickly, they had lost everything and had to return to their family once again, fearing judgement, but all they found was love and forgiveness by those he had cast aside. 

This time, the hero worked hard, harder than before and as they grew successful and grew more rich than before through blood sweat and tears instead of by just luck, all the while becoming closer and more loving with their family. They even help a couple of kids from abusive homes from where their parents “don’t give them food for their tummies even though they could. Patton was absolutely melting at the reactions, how  _ engaged _ they were and you could tell they had never really been told stories before. But when the story mentioned the bit about the food, two of the mers had become quiet and looked distressed, and it wasn’t til the happy ending where the mer has their own family and everything that the one of the mers speaks up, a different one from before.

“My mommy doesn’t buy food sometimes, she buys something called ambling? And my daddy doesn’t know, I think.” Their voice had been so unsure and nervous, as if someone was about to jump out and berate them, which made Patton’s heart break.

Patton had extended his arms in a gentle beckoning gesture and had reassured them when they had become even more fearful at the initial gesture. The child had timidly come up and was surprised when Patton gently wrapped his arms around them, making sure to tell them they had every right to say they were uncomfortable and Patton would stop, but instead latched onto Patton’s formal shirt and bawled. Patton let the child cry it out, and just to melt Patton’s heart a little more, all of the other kids had come and embraced Patton and the mer, which almost broke Patton’s composure at the gesture, but instead he simply waited until the mer had stopped crying to release them.

When they did, Patton took them by the hand and asked the other mers if their parents were like the adopted mers biological parents, to which the other mer Patton had seen grow distressed during the story step up and say their parents let him alone at their house without food a lot. 

Patton had been quick to both make sure the mer’s felt heard while not distressing the other mers by the end of the day, taking them both aside and talking with them on how their home life was.

It had been clear to Patton when the mer said their mother used money for gambling instead of food, that something had to be done. And he had done everything to ensure the gambling was mentioned to the father of the mer and that the other mer’s family was investigated for their abandonment of the mer with no regard to their safety.

Patton smiled as he remembered talking with one of the mer’s recently about how their home life was better now and they looked so much better, filled out where before they had been on the cusp of malnutrition because of their situation before, but now their tail was not cloudy and their scales gleamed.

Looking up, Patton realized that once again time had gotten away from him with his job, as it was 15 minutes after his mandated work time. Patton put away the scroll he had been reading and nodded at one of the regulars of the Royal Library as he left. Patton again found himself lost in thought as he swam down the hallways towards his quarters, the stories he had read that day whirling around his head.

That was until a small… something happened. Patton suddenly felt there was something new. Some odd movement of the water, some odd sound, Patton couldn’t be sure, but he slowed down as he debated whether to find it’s source and risk overstepping his place or help a mer in distress that possibly needed his help to get it sooner than another mer finding them later.

It didn’t take long for that nagging feeling to pull him down the closest hallway towards whatever was causing this feeling. Patton didn’t recognize the hallway as he had never had reason to enter this particular hallway, but he did recognize that the small glimpses of items in the rooms he was passing, he knew these places were research places. 

That made Patton more insistent on investigating, as what if someone had done an experiment and it had gone wrong? Patton had to at least try to help!

Patton heard nothing new as he grew closer, but felt the water from one of the rooms moving strangely, which meant what he had sensed from the end of the halla was coming from there. 

Patton rounded the corner, immediately ready and looking for a way to help. But catching him off guard was instead of a regular mer, there was a quite strange looking type of mer with two odd looking tails instead of one that… was encased in poison from the Upper Sea!

Patton launched himself towards the bubble, ready to tear it apart with his bare hands and find whoever trapped the strange looking mer against their will and were torturing them with making them suffocate in poison. But when he realized that the mer was not clutching at their gills, because they strangely did not have any visible ones, Patton’s hand hovered just above the bubble, analyzing the two-tailed mer. 

Their eyes were closed and they looked distressed, but they didn’t seem to be suffocating. Perhaps this was a mer that poison was a kind of calming agent? The mer seemed very much asleep, but their eyes were moving behind their eyelids and they looked afraid, as if in a nightmare.

Before Patton even knew what he was doing, instead of tearing the bubble, Patton stretched out his hand towards the mer’s cheek, realizing when he felt the strange sensation of poison around his hand and the water free cheek he realized he was now caressing. He should’ve done that, it was usually impossible for someone  _ to _ do this, but all Patton cared about at the moment was calming this mer down in whatever dream/nightmare they were in.

At the contact, the mer stiffened in sleep, but then slowly melted into the touch as they realized that the touch was friendly and loving. Patton again lost himself in the moment of comforting the mer for a few moments longer than he realized, ensuring the mer was calm before Patton withdrew his hand, marveling at the sensation once more as his hand transitioned from the strange and light poison sensation back to the now slightly heavy but comforting feeling of the water again.

Patton had never been out to the Upper Sea before, he had read a book or two on it and had been in close proximity to the border on multiple other occasions, but had never tried to cross. The books and others who had investigated said how uncomfortable and painful it felt, their gills yearning for air and counterintuitively shutting closed, affected by the poison.

But as he looked at this strange mer, he wondered what it felt like, how this mer could survive in the poison. Did they live in the Upper Sea? Or was it just the poison that affected them differently?

Patton didn’t know, but all at once he realized that he should  _ not _ be there. He knew they had the mer there for a good reason, perhaps they were injured, but something in Patton’s gut told him otherwise. Speaking of his gut, his stomach growled quietly, which despite it not being particularly loud, caused the mer to shift in the bubble, their eyes starting to flicker open.

**That was Patton’s cue to leave despite his gut telling him the mer was in need, as if he freed the mer without knowing why the mer was there, they might be hurting and in turn harm others out of fearing if they were freed.** So Patton left the half awake mer, hoping he could leave for the mer to not notice his presence before he left. 

Patton slunk down the hall, making sure no one could see him come from a hallway he was not supposed to be before he continued to his quarters, his meal provided by one of the servants on the central table, waiting for him.

But no matter what he did, reading the scrolls in his quarters, eating, stretching his tail, he couldn’t get that  _ feeling _ of the poison out of his head. It stirred something in him that he didn’t understand and he chose to ignore that feeling cause it might go away if he ignored it, right? Poison was poison and the mer was likely a particular subspecies of mer the kingdom had never encountered before, that was it. Nothing more.

And yet...


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton goes back to see that strange mer again, but he might be a little less careful this time...

Patton awoke just like normal. His hair brushing across his arm before he pulling himself up, feeling the pull of his muscles as he stretched his arms to get the slight stiffness from them, relishing in the release of tension before his brain and memories finally caught up with him and he remembered what had happened the day before. 

Part of him told him to check on the mer again, but the other part told him not to meddle and he didn’t know which to listen to if he did meddle and get caught, not only him could be punished, but the strange mer could get punished as well for not informing the people responsible for him. 

For the time, he knew it was foolish to go anytime in the middle of the day, so he would wait and check whenever he passed the hall on route to the library if he could visit again without being detected, he was lucky the guard shift had ended when it did for his time in the room last night. He wouldn’t be so lucky this early.

Patton had totally forgotten about guards guarding the hallway, as being kept in that room meant there needed to be some form of protection and security. Patton cringed at how he could’ve been caught easily with what position he put himself in the previous night. A good rest jogged his critical thinking apparently.

Patton thanked the attendant providing his breakfast, the full smile he always drawn to was able to be fully on his face rather than the formal and fake smiles he always had to show on his face in the appropriate contexts as well as expressing the joy within him. But though Patton disliked that he couldn’t let it out, he knew it was to ensure professionality was maintained as well as not making any guest or resident of the palace uncomfortable.

After scarfing down his breakfast he first checked in on that hallway. He remained as subtle as he could, but his heart sank as he saw a guard posted outside the room and to his disappointment did not take the detour back to the strange mer. Instead he went in early to the library before his duties were required, nodding at the night librarian, but pointing at the time and indicating he was personally looking for a book for himself. 

The night librarian frowned just a little at the message, but accepted it, glancing at the clock before going back to what she was doing. 

****

**Patton was curious now, the mer looked** **_so strange_ ** **!** Surely Patton would’ve heard of this mer before, with their strange two tailed bottom half. It was just simply the two tails, as other mers had many multiple arm tails like octopi, but those were thin and were never in just a simple group of two. If Patton didn’t know any better, he would say that the mer had clothes on their tail! They looked just like it, but all mers knew clothes on their tails, scales, suckers, what have you, always felt too weird to try to wear. 

_That mer surely is strange, I wonder if the library has anything on them?_ _I’ve never seen that subspecies before…_

Patton swam around shelf to shelf, knowing the content of each by heart, but despite going through countless scrolls, none of them talked about any mer with two tails and the strange shaped fin at the bottom. They talked about either deformities in the certain tail types or other mers that almost met the description, but there were either too many tails or just one like most mer.

It wasn’t long before the night librarian signed over to Patton that her shift was over and he was now officially on shift for the day. Patton sighed, replacing the scroll he was reading moments before back and prepared for his next day. 

Unfortunately, that day was the day that the same royal Evano came back once again. Patton smiled formally at Evano, asking him in sign language what he wanted to find in the library today, but getting only a blank stare back. It seemed despite the prevalence of most citizens being taught sign, Patton himself had been taught from birth and had a number of deaf friends, not just to be able to be silent in the library, it baffled  _ Patton _ how Evano was  _ baffled _ at Patton’s signing.

Patton signed his question again, just in case Patton was mistaken, but when Evano’s confused and now quite irritated expression showed no comprehension, Patton knew a different way to communicate despite the rules of no talking.

Patton didn’t let his bafflement show to Evano about his lack of sign comprehension, simply grabbing an empty scroll and a writing utensil and writing his question before giving both to Evano to write his response. However, like before Evano did not take the items from Patton, but simply sneered at them.

“I don’t have time to take things from  _ staff, _ just get me more information on the Isela, I need more.” Evano crossed his arms flicking tail so he subtly back slightly away from the scroll and utensil in Patton’s hand. The way he said staff made the hair on the back of his neck stand and at the same time place a hot rock in his stomach, as if Patton, the royal Librarian was treated this rudely, who knows what other lower ranked servants, guards, and attendants suffered at the hand of Evano’s arrogance.

But Patton again vocalized nothing of what he thought, knowing making a scene of any sort would not turn out well, so he simply let the fake smile rest on his face as he nodded and respectfully retreated to gather any such information.

There wasn’t a whole lot on the intimate study of the Isela, but there  _ was _ just enough of them that Patton was sure whatever Evano needed would be in  _ one _ of the scrolls. Consequently, there was just enough that Patton required the employ of one of the turtles, as the weight of all the scrolls would be too much for Patton alone to carry back to Evano. 

Patton petted the turtle who he chose to assist him on the head and he could tell the turtle felt appreciated by how fast they moved for Patton despite the heavy load. When Patton came around the corner with all of the scrolls on the turtle, however, Evano’s eyes bugged out. He looked shocked that Patton was bringing him  _ all _ of the books he could need. 

Patton wrote down on the scroll “Here you go, this is all we have on the Isela, it’s organized by topic, so whatever you need will be here!”

Evano still looked uncharacteristically shocked. Patton was confused at his shock, Evano expected to be waited on hand and foot, but was surprised when he indeed was gone up and beyond for? 

_ It doesn’t matter, he has everything he needs. _ Patton mentally shook his head, smiling that same fake smile at Evano, waiting for Evano to do something, either tell him what to get from the pile or get it himself, likely the former.

But to Patton’s own surprise, Evano’s posture went from confident and cocky to just slightly hunched and… ashamed looking? It never lacked the regal posture, but Patton could tell a bunch of confidence had leaked out of them in one moment.

_ That’s odd, I hope he isn’t upset at me, all of the attitude just drained out of him… I hope he’s okay. Can’t really ask properly, but I can prompt him… _ Patton’s eyebrows scrunched as he thought this, but again kept the formal facade readily on his face.

Without a word or glance, Evano went to work trying to find what scroll he wanted in the plethora Patton brought, which surprised Patton given his previous insistence not to even lift a finger the previous day. He waited patiently, having given no order to stay right by him, Patton went nearby to the return area where returned scrolls were and started replacing any nearby that he knew he could reach without going too far from Evano and his books. It wasn’t until Evano tapped him on the shoulder that he realized Evano had found whatever scroll that had the information he needed.

As Patton turned around, Patton half expected to hear some kind of passive aggressive statement from Evano, but instead Evano started signing to him. 

“I found what I needed, you can put the other scroll back now.” Evano was making as little eye contact as necessary, swimming over to where he recorded what scroll he was utilizing and quickly left, leaving Patton confused at Evano’s change of heart so suddenly. 

As Patton gathered the scrolls back onto the turtle to help put them back, Patton’s mind now had no distractions and his mind drifted to that strange mer the day before. They looked so tired and scared even in sleep, Patton’s mind just played over and over what happened whenever he didn’t have anything else to think about.

Just like the day before, Patton felt the day go by fast, though it felt longer than the day before because Patton kept thinking about how he was going to get back to the strange mer’s room.

As Patton put the last scroll he needed to in place and looked at the clock to see his shift was over, he barely contained himself from simply rushing out as fast as he could at that exact moment. Instead he calmly went back to the front desk and straightened things out before leaving, tail flicking with stifled excitement.

Patton nearly swam past the hallway in excitement, but that allowed him to glance down the hallway and see a guard going down the hallway in opposite direction, leaving the room available for a short time. Seeing that, Patton took no time in hurrying down the hallway, ignoring the part of him telling him not to risk it.

****

**Patton slipped into the room as fast and as quietly as he could, startling when he saw the strange mer’s eyes were open and a mix of angry and afraid, but they didn’t try to open their mouth to speak, just continued staring at Patton in fear.** Patton rapidly made himself move in a way that the mer would not think he was intended to harm them, moving slowly and gradually when all he wanted to do was suddenly swaddle this mer in as many comforting items as he could muster. 

The mer still became distressed as Patton approached, despite Patton’s great effort not be threatening, which distressed Patton.

“No, little guppy, I’m not here to hurt you, I promise. I don’t know what exactly you are or why you’re here, but you don’t deserve being stuck here in poison.” Patton placed his hand on the bubble around the mer as he spoke, hoping the mer didn’t see it as threatening.

Thankfully, the mer did not react to harshly to the touch, but stared at Patton’s hand as if it would bite him for looking up at Patton with an utterly confused looking expression on their face.  _ They must speak a different language, it makes sense because I doubt these kinds of mers would interact with the average mer here, cause I surely would’ve heard something about them before now if they had!  _ Patton thought.

Using a different tactic, Patton tried to gesture that everything was okay, though judging by the lack of reaction to the gestures, the mer didn’t have the same ones as Patton either.

Patton searched his mind rapidly and desperately for a way to communicate  _ something _ , and when Patton got it, it took all his willpower not to wildly flick his tail in excitement.

Patton gestured to himself and said slowly and clearly “Patton.” Not expecting the mer to get it first try, Patton expected the first blank uncomprehending look once again, but that didn’t discourage Patton. He just did it again, gesturing to himself and slowly enunciating his name. The mer’s expression flickered in recognition. Patton repeated himself over and over and marveled at the whooshing approximation of Patton’s name that the mer sounded out.

“Pat-ton?” The mer pauses, hunching into themself, as if expecting something bad by nature of talking, but Patton simply nodded, to which the mer did the same very carefully, watching Patton’s expression.

Patton smiled, and was grateful that the mer did not take the baring of his teeth as a threat as other mer societies did. The mer then repeated the name, as if to verify what’s being communicated, pointing at Patton with an anxious expression.

“Patton…?” Patton again nodded, and that appeared to relax the mer, though Patton didn’t exactly understand why until the mer made a large whooshing sound and pointed to himself and bravely said “Virgil.”

Patton didn’t understand for a moment, marveling at the strange sound coming from the mer, but he heard familiar sounds in the word and slowly parsed them out, exploring unfamiliar mouth shapes before sounding it out.

“Virg-in?” Patton sounded out. Strangely, this word made the mer start making short whooshing sounds and say some words Patton couldn’t understand before repeating their name once more.

“Virgi- _ L _ .” Patton parsed out the mouth shape once more, realizing the sound he made was incorrect and lowered his tongue for last sound, sounding more like the name the mer was given.

“Oh, Virgi _ l _ .” Patton waited to a response and got it in a hesitant nod from Virgil, to which he smiled at, also nodding. They both appeared to have the nodding gesture in common, which Virgil seemed to realize too, as he mirrored the nod back, a mutual understanding between them that they meant the same thing.

Realizing why he was here in the first place, Patton brought out the little ringlet of seaweed he had made while bored and found the bubble to be strangely solid, which meant that whoever had made it had realized it was not hardened to others. Not missing a beat however, because Patton would never let an opportunity to comfort Virgil pass him by, he looked behind him out the door before concentrating and feeling his own little bubble form around the bracelet.

This bubble was different than the one’ Patton had ever made before as he let the bubble fill with poison instead of water as well. After finishing his work, he carefully found the perfect place to slide his bubble into the bigger one severing the magic when it was fully in the bigger bubble. Patton saw Virgil’s curious expression fill with fear as he saw another bubble in Patton’s hands to which Patton made clear that the bubble was only for the bracelet, but even that didn’t allay Virgil’s fears as Virgil’s eyes regarded the bracelet with suspicion. 

Patton was patient, though he knew he didn’t have much longer as the guard was coming back any minute now, but let Virgil go at his own pace as Virgil started poking at the bracelet floating in front of him. He caught Virgil glancing over at Patton with an expression that seemed half trying to gauge what Patton was doing and if the bracelet was something dangerous, and the other half seemed confused on what to do with it in general. 

Eventually, Virgil slowly slipped on the bracelet and held a finger under part of it as if it was going to start constricting Virgil’s arm the moment it was properly secured on his arm. Instead, of course, the bracelet just sat there on Virgil’s arm.

****

**When Virgil realized this, and realized the bracelet was an act of peace, of friendship, of comfort, or anything positive, he started crying and strangely started producing water!** Mind you, it was only from Virgil’s eyes but it struck Patton as an amazing feat.

Patton, thinking fast, conjured a bubble strictly on his hand and was able to get his hand through, which Virgil subconsciously grabbed and squeezed the moment he could before Patton knew his time was up as he started hearing the distant sounds of a guard. It pained Patton to leave Virgil upset, but he had no choice, giving one comforting squeeze to Virgil’s hand before retreating out of the room as fast as he could, not looking back because he would feel obligated to stay despite the risk if he saw Virgil’s upset expression again.

Patton desperately wanted to stay, but a half realized plan started forming in Patton’s head as his resolve grew that this mer didn’t deserve this treatment. Bring locked away in a bubble of poison, slowly suffocating from it but persevering nonetheless. There had to be a way to break Virgil out, and Patton was sure he’d find i-

“Hey, what are you doing here? This hallway is off limits for any personnel not on the research team or anyone under the title of duke, state why you are here and why you have violated your place in the place.” A loud and stern voice came from behind him.

_ Fiddlesticks, I wasn’t fast enough. _ Patton lamented as he turned around, face of ashamedness and humbleness easily coming onto his face, just not for the reasons the guard would assume.

“I apologize, I was simply distracted and swam down this hallway without realizing my actions. I meant no offense or transgression in my actions, I would never do this intentionally, I suppose being the librarian and reading books means I can get lost in my own head quite easily…” The guard, who had a spear pointing at Patton, lowered it when he heard Patton’s title. Patton’s title wasn’t at the level of duke, but it was one of the higher positions any normal citizen could get in the palace save for a head guard or cook. It didn’t mean Patton could order the guard to ignore him, but it would give most guards pause to immediately detain him. 

“Oh, wait. Patton? Do you remember me? I was in your graduating class, we met a couple times at school.” The mer relaxes, spear now firmly not pointed at Patton, which allows him to relax himself, laughing a little, the other mer’s face clicking in his mind.

“Elias? It’s been a while!” Patton swims slightly towards Elias in excitement. Elias nods, but quickly becomes stern. 

“You can’t be here, even if I know you’re not the type to break the rules. I won’t report you, just be careful next time, I can’t give you more than one pass. Pay attention in the future.” Elias puts the spear back into its natural defensive position in his hand. Patton nods immediately, knowing he was one bad move from getting caught and wasn’t ever going to be able to help Virgil before he was moved or had whatever was going to happen to him. 

Patton nodded shortly, swimming briskly away, breathing a sigh of relief once he was out of earshot.

Patton deliberated over what he should do, when he suddenly realized he was long overdue to visit one of his old friends. Instead of turning towards his room, he swam towards the entrance and exit of the palace, the royal gate.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is busy, but of course he has time for a friend...

It was chaos. Cups strewn around the floor, toys on every flat surface, how had it gotten this bad? A merman with a nurse shark tail and a tie was pursuing a mergirl with a hammerhead shark tail Logan was chasing his younger sister as she ran around with a particularly expensive vase, looking as if at any moment she would smash the vase to bits.

“Renee, I swear, I don’t want to have to do it! You know you’ll feel awful afterwards. Just give the vase back!” Logan shouted, hair slightly ruffled and his fabric necklace (tie) loose and flowing behind him as he desperately tried to catch up.

“No, I can do what I want!” Renee retorted, sticking her tongue back out at Logan, still just out of reach. Logan doesn’t appear to gain on her despite his best efforts to get to her, she appears to be even further away from Logan’s reach.

Luckily, that doesn’t last forever as Logan cut her off as she almost dropped the vase accidentally, automatically fumbling for it despite her previous announcement that she could do what she wanted. Taking the opportunity in her distraction to lay a gentle hand on her back, Renee stiffening at the touch. Almost immediately, Logan’s sister turned around, latching onto Logan with a whine, vase forgotten as she desperately clings to him. Logan held her close, exasperated as he lets her cling onto him as he placed the vase back where it needed to go.

It was then that there was a knock on the door, just two simple knocks.

_ Who’s here so late in the evening? _

Logan kept his sister latched onto him as he swam over to open the door, face lifting as he recognized who it was.

“Patton?! You’ve been awhile, I was thinking you’d never come this month.” 

**Patton was indeed in the doorway, nervously fiddling with the cloth ends around his neck.** He lit up as Logan opened the door, but Logan could tell something was wrong as he didn’t maintain eye contact..

“Hey Lo, sorry about that, I’ve gotten distracted a bunch and forgot it had been a long time since I saw you last.” Patton glanced up, finally making proper eye contact with Logan, immediately shifting down to Renee latched onto Logan.

“Renee causing trouble again?” Logan nodded, rubbing his sisters back to comfort her as he feels the start of a whine from her at her name.

“Indeed, she was playing with the vase and she wouldn’t stop. She knew what would happen, so she brought this on herself by not stopping.” Patton swam up to Logan, eyes soft, hand going to rub soothing circles into Renee’s back.

Despite the proximity, Patton didn’t notice Logan’s eyes weren’t on Renee, but on Patton, flitting from his hair to his eyes and finally to Patton’s lips as Patton whispered gentle words to Renee. Logan averted his eyes before Patton looked up, Logan saying, “I think she’s just about at sleepy time. Excuse me for a moment.”

Logan swam back slowly, allowing Patton to halt what he was doing before swimming into the other room where Renee’s bed was, lowering her gently into it, quickly going and grabbing a big and soft pillow. As Renee was placed on the bed alone, she immediately started to whine, hands grabbing outwards to try and grab onto Logan again. But when Logan brought the pillow near her, the moment it was within reach, Renee pounced on it, desperately hugging the pillow and relaxing into the bed, eyes fluttering closed.

Logan waited until he left the room to huff in a release of the tension he had from having to prevent her from breaking the vase. It wasn’t until Patton’s voice piped up once more that he realized he somehow forgot in the 30 seconds he was away that Patton was in his house.

“You good to have me? In your house, I mean?” Patton fidgeted again, tail visibly flicking nervously. 

Logan turned around, expression gentle, grabbing Patton’s hand as he soothed Patton, “Of course, you’re my friend after all, I enjoy your company, Roman’s too.” It was Logan's turn not to notice Patton’s gaze when it flicked down to Logan’s lips, not noticing the tiny bit of heartbreak briefly flit through Patton’s eyes.

“Thank you, I enjoy your company too.”

Logan quickly let go of Patton’s hand, swimming back to put a little space in between them, finally voicing what he’s been wondering since he saw Patton at the door. “You okay Patton? You seem… distracted.” 

Patton immediately smiled at the question, which did not help Logan’s fears abate at the sharp change, “I’m fine Lo. Don’t worry about me.”

Logan frowned, “I know you enough to tell that’s not true. Patton, please don’t lie to me.”

Patton opened his mouth to protest before looking away ashamedly, mumbling.

“You know me too well, but… I don’t think I want to talk about it. It’s complicated…”

Logan sighed, knowing pressing would likely only upset Patton more, instead, Logan went over to a cupboard, retrieving a stache of expertly hidden seaweed cookies in the lining of a container. 

**Patton’s eyes lit up at the sight of them, his expression becoming embarrassed as Patton realized why Logan was giving him two, gratefully taking two, nibbling at it while looking out the window.**

After a long time of silence, Patton opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by a knock on the door. Logan looks away from Patton, which Logan didn’t realize he was doing until he had to stop, swimming over to the door, hearing a cheerful and familiar voice on the other side.

“Fear not, it is I, your humble friend Roman, come to keep you company!” Logan quickly opened the door at that, cursing under his breath as he quickly pulled Roman inside the house, turning Roman to face him as he sternly reprimanded him.

“Are you an idiot Roman?! You don’t just sneak out of the palace and then  _ announce _ your presence for all to hear! And I’m not  _ alone _ , Pat-” 

Roman interrupted Logan as he spotted Patton resting on a chair, face lighting up.

“Patton! It’s been a while! I can never find the time to come and see you in the palace, which is a shame as you look as dashing as ever!”

Patton’s cheeks flushed red in a blush at Roman’s words, not used to the compliments as it had been a while since Patton had seen him. He bashfully replied.

“You are too, Ro…”

Logan grumbled at being interrupted, but continued, speaking to Roman, “Something’s bothering him, please don’t ask him, he’s said he doesn’t want to talk about it, please listen.”

Logan regretted even mentioning it as Roman whipped around to face Patton, exclaiming,

**“Whatever is plaguing you, I will kill it! Nothing can come to harm our beloved, I will make sure!” Roman unsheathed the katana at his side, placing himself in a defensive position in front of Patton for dramatic effect, scanning the room for any intruders.**

To Roman’s surprise, at the mention of killing what’s worrying Patton, Patton flinches violently and half-shouts a desperate “NO!”

That made Roman falter, lowering his katana in confusion as Patton covered his mouth, realizing what he had just done.

“...no? I shouldn’t kill what’s plaguing you or I won’t make sure?” Roman’s expression reflected utter confusion.

Patton floundered, a knot in the pit of his stomach telling him he blew it, that he shouldn’t have done that, that they would just worry now. And against everything else, he listened to that pit in his stomach, swimming past Roman and Logan, leaving a half eaten second seaweed cookie resting on the plate. Patton opened the front door before either of them could stop them, swimming off into the night, Roman and Logan hearing Patton’s soft cries retreat into the night as they swam after him, eventually losing him in the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton returns with someone new, Logan may know just what to do.

Virgil was moving. For the first time in who knows how long, he was finally in motion. 

Of course, it was not himself who was moving, but the bubble itself, Virgil opened his bleary eyes, seeing a completely new mermaid person with a stark yellow and brown spotted tail holding their hand out strangely while swimming beside him.

Connecting the dots, Virgil realized that this mermaid was controlling the bubble around him somehow, which made Virgil’s heart kick into overdrive even as the veil of sleep hadn’t completely untangled itself from his mind.

“Hey! Let me out! Where are you taking me? Stop! You can’t do this!” Virgil yelled, weakly lashing out at the bubble despite him knowing full well it was no use.

He felt so weak, the mermaid that always came in gave him some nasty and slimy thing for him to eat, which tasted a little better than it looked, but in the 1-2… however many days he had been in there, no one had given him any water. They didn’t understand him sure, but surely they were like humans and needed some kind of pure freshwater, but no matter how he had yelled and cried, tears starting to dry up, no one seemed to understand, just that mer looking blankly at him before placing a gag on him from outside the bubble.

Virgil felt sick with this sudden movement, clutching at his stomach, which despite his stomach being filled felt as if he didn't have enough in it. Virgil’s throat actually started to feel as if it was burning as he continued to yell at his escort to... wherever he was being taken.

He yelled at the mermaid demanding for them to react, do something other than blankly look ahead as they took him wherever they were taking him. But despite his harsh cries, nothing impacted them.

After a while of thrashing uselessly against his plight, he sagged and let the energy drain out of him, releasing himself to whatever fate was awaiting him. Anxiety still kept his thoughts active, but as his limbs began to feel numb in hopelessness, he now had intention of acting on, letting himself become a passive observer of his own anxious thoughts.

**He only looked up when hearing a strange sound, seeing that same mer, Patton, holding a thick piece of dead coral, the other mer unconscious to the side.** Virgil feels himself start to cry with relief, seeing Patton’s face, his eyes red and a little puffy as if he’d been crying as well.

Quickly, Patton brings out his arms in a gesture, stretching out his own bubble, about the size of the one Virgil was in. After making it, Patton slowly pushes the bubble into Virgil’s bubble, that same permeation from before, remembering what Patton did when he was crying, stretching out his hand, passing through the barrier of his bubble, slipping into Patton’s.

When Virgil was in Patton’s bubble, Patton pulled his bubble back, separating Virgil from his previous bubble and swiftly bringing him along a different direction. Virgil’s previous bubble deformed, warping, falling and rising erratically as it now had nothing to contain. Patton looked around hurriedly, both to look out for others, but Virgil noticed he also strangely was scanning the walls themselves. 

Patton sped up as he saw a particular wall. Virgil was confused as it was just a plain wall, no door or somewhere to hide. That was until Patton flicked his tail against the wall in a specific place, a part of the wall miraculously sliding open to reveal a secret hallway.

Virgil jumped at a sound behind him, likely someone who wouldn’t like to see Patton taking him. Patton heard it too, whipping his head back to check behind Virgil, quickly swimming into the passage and closing the door behind them. In the darkness, Virgil couldn’t see, but his mermaid escort seemed to know where to go, Virgil feeling the movement of the bubble, his stomach queasy, whether from his anxious thoughts brought on by the unknown or the movement in the dark disorienting him making him nauseous, Virgil didn’t know.

What he did know was that after a painstakingly long time in the dark, he was suddenly illuminated by a small light, nearly blinding him after an extended period of darkness. Unfortunately, his dehydration got the best of him as he was bathed in the light, Patton changing his direction just enough to make Virgil head begin to spin as his vision started to tunnel back into a black abyss of nothing.

Virgil desperately tried to hold onto consciousness, but he knew he was losing as he heard Patton say something in his whistling and strange underwater language, the sound becoming farther and farther away, Virgil last thoughts as he fell unconscious being:  _ He’s helped me get out I don’t wanna leave him alone. Don't’ wanna. So thirsty. Don’t wanna leave….. _

-

Roman and Logan were frantically arguing with each other, both distressed as they bickered.

“I looked there as much as I could! He wasn’t there!”

“He has to be  _ somewhere _ ! You can’t just get back into the palace at night, that’s why  _ you  _ left when you did, right? So the king couldn’t enlist your help cause you don’t like him?”

Roman huffed, arms crossed glaring at Logan.

“Well, you didn’t find him either, so why don’t you look for him again?”

Logan’s expression remained neutral even as Roman saw an anger building up in his eyes.

“I  _ did _ look multiple times Roman, which is why I implore you to go back and-”

“No! I looked and looked and looked and looked, Patton wasn’t there and I know it! If you’re going to patronize me by implying I’m not concerned enough for Patton to look as hard as I can then-!”

“Excuse me, but I  _ never  _ patronized you-!”

Both of them were abruptly interrupted by furious knocking on the door, both Logan and Roman immediately swimming to open the door. Roman grabbed the handle first, but Logan also gripped the door, on top of Roman’s hand, Logan giving Roman’s glare at him an eyebrow raise before they both pulled the door open, a frantic looking Patton and something strange in his bubble. 

A quite strange looking mer that gave both Roman and Logan a bad feeling, though neither of them knew why.

“Padre- Padre? What- Who is that?” Roman asked, feeling a protective surge as he took in the mer, dark colored tail and clothes. He would not allow this mer to hurt his beloved anymore, unsheathing his sword as Patton brought the mer in frantically, babbling something about taking him and a strange sound Patton kept repeating that Roman couldn’t understand.

‘Virgil’

Roman put a gentle hand on Patton’s shoulder, trying to calm him down from whatever terror this strange mer had inflicted upon him.

“Whoa, whoa, padre, slow down there. They can’t hurt you anymore, it’s alright, he’s unconscious.”

Roman glared at their unconscious body floating, anger swooping through them at the thought of them terrorizing his precious Patton.

Patton finally caught sight of Roman’s sword, realizing what Roman was saying, shouting “No!” which confused Roman, as surely Patton would not wish for his attacker to torment him any longer.

Patton threw himself in between Roman and the strange mer, blocking Roman from striking the villain.

“Don’t you dare hurt  _ Virgil, _ he’s my friend!” Roman blinked realizing the strange sound Patton was making was the mer’s  _ name. _

“How can this dark shadow mer be your friend, he’s upset you! He doesn’t belong here!”

Patton suddenly sobbed, Roman, realizing he had genuinely upset Patton, immediately dropped his sword and brought out his arms to rub Patton’s arms to comfort him, heart breaking a little as Patton nearly flinched away, still trying to protect ‘Virgil.’

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry padre, I’m just… I’m scared cause I didn’t know if this mer hurt you and you were upset and I-” Patton tearfully placed a finger on Roman’s mouth, effectively cutting Roman off.

“It’s… fine I just, I had to get him and I knocked Deceit out cause he was there and-”

“What?!” Logan finally spoke up, Patton looking over to see him coming back from his sister’s bedroom, eyes now furious.

Logan swam rapidly up to Patton, loosely grabbing him.

“You- you took this mer from the King’s advisor, and… knocked him out?! 

**Patton, that’s… that’s treason!** **”** Patton curled up at Logan’s tone, able to stop crying, but Logan became much more gentle seeing how distraught and shaky he was. 

“I know, but you should’ve seen it, they were keeping him there depriving him of… something, because look at him!” Patton gestured wildly at Virgil, where Roman and Logan saw the slight pallor to Virgil’s skin for the first time, not focusing on the strange tail he had.

“He’s sick! He passed out on the way here and I couldn’t wake him up, and I- I just don’t know what to do! There’s nothing on what he is and he’s in a bubble of poison for coral’s sake!” Roman and Logan refocused on Virgil in the bubble, realizing Virgil indeed wasn’t immersed in water.

“Isn’t- shouldn’t that be what is hurting him? Poison is poison and I think that might be why he’s-” Roman cut himself off at Patton shaking his head, pausing before confusedly gesturing for Patton to speak.

“I don’t think- I don’t think it’s the poison, he doesn’t have any visible gills, see? I don’t know what’s happening to him, but if we can get him awake, maybe he could show us what’s happening to him.”

Roman was incredulous at the idea of waking some strange mer up when they had no idea what they could do, but Roman felt the squid eyes Patton was gearing to make, not wanting to be subject to them, he acquiesced.

“Fine! But the moment he looks like he’s attacking you, I won’t hesitate to protect you.”

Patton pouted, but Roman knew that Patton understood it was Roman’s instinct to protect so strongly that anything threatening was met with Roman’s sword.

Logan glanced out the window, sighing, “I have already incriminated myself in not contacting the authorities when I heard about your treason. I might as well assist, I have not thing left to lose already. Let’s go to the basement.”

Roman’s eyebrows furrowed, “You have a basement? I don’t think anyone who looks at your house would think you have a basement!”

Logan looked back at Roman, eyebrow raised and halfway over to open the basement.

“That is what I should be going for if we’re going to hide from the authorities, is it not?”

Patton covering his mouth with his hands, “I’m so sorry for doing this to you, I just- I had nowhere to go and-”

Logan placed a hand on Patton’s shoulder, Patton looking into Logan’s eyes, eyes full of guilt.

“Patton, it’s okay. It’s not the best scenario, but you are correct that this mer needs some serious help, and we’re going to provide it as best we can, now I’ll open the door and Patton you bring…  _ Virgin _ ? Was it?”

Patton shook his head “Virgi-l.”

Logan mouthed the name, getting used to the strange feeling in his mouth from the unfamiliar word.

“Okay then, bring Virgil down. Roman, find any medicinal supplies and books you can from that cabinet and bring them down so we can help nurse this mer back to health.”

Everyone nodded, going to do their separate tasks, Roman furiously gathering as much relevant supplies, trying to be extra careful with a set of bottles labeled:  _ Fragile, Do not break. _ Logan slipped his hand under a specific ridge in his house, pulling a small loop of something under there, opening up a hole in the floor previously invisible because of the covering that appeared to be seamless in the floor.

Patton marveled at it a moment before quickly directed Virgil’s bubble down the hole, Logan waiting for Roman to come by with the supplies, careful to not get in his way as he saw down the hole slowly, slowing when he realized how dark it was down there.

**Sensing Roman was about to voice how dark it was Logan simply slipped his hand into a hole in the door, producing a couple of light balls, shaking them to excite them, directing their path into the hole, the balls intuitively knowing where to go in the basement to best light it.**

Being the last one, Logan left the door propped open, writing his sister a letter, hoping she remembered there game, knowing if the authorities showed up when Logan was still in the basement, the note would be just vague enough for her to know, but for the authorities to have to investigate to know it’s meaning.

_ Knock. _

Logan smoothed his sister’s hair back, smiling at how she leaned into his touch even while asleep, before joining his friends down below

And so each of them set to work to find the source of what ailed Virgil, and any way to wake him up.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil finally wakes, but his thirst isn't anything his new friends understand.

Much like many of the days Virgil had been stuck under the ocean, Virgil awoke to strange noises around him. They were... different than the ones he remembered waking up to. There were different voices, one less varied, another in a higher register and one was just.  _ Way. Too. Loud. _

Virgil groaned, by now knowing he wouldn’t be hurt just making noise or speaking, his arms and legs were still sore from all the poking that one scientist looking mermaid kept doing on him, his legs had it the worst, feeling as if he had at least a couple bruises in random places on his leg. He was not at all amused when the mermaid had forcefully poked his groin, Virgil crying out in pain, glaring at them. The mermaid didn’t seem bothered, simply writing something down on some strange seaweed looking thing before continuing to poke Virgil.

**Virgil heard the commotion above him?, around him?, he couldn’t tell, grow quiet, that slightly familiar timbre gently and clunkily saying “Virgil?”**

_ Wait, Patton? _

Virgil cracked his eye open, breathing exponentially speeding up when he saw  _ how close _ the ceiling was. He wasn’t usually claustrophobic, but both being in a bubble and being who knows how far underwater, he was taking no chances in small spaces.

Virgil was parched, he realized, and that became his whole world all of a sudden, starting to lowly whine, and start to just ask for “Water. Water. Fresh water. No salt. I need. I need.”

Virgil reached out for Patton trying to desperately communicate what he needed. But his heart pounded as no matter how many times he said it, Patton’s face remained blank. It wasn’t until he turned his head that he saw the other mermaids he had heard when waking up. 

One had an almost blindingly white tail, though Virgil saw a hint of grey at the edges, alarmingly reminding Virgil of a shark, they also had a thin piece of what looked like… human made fabric draped across them like a sash. The other had very similar looking sea glass looking glasses perched on their nose, their tail looked much… softer than Patton’s tail, and was tinged a dark sort of blue instead of like Patton’s monochrome dark grey.

Virgil tensed up, waiting for the mermaids to make a move, if Patton was with them, they surely weren’t going to hurt him, but that didn’t stop Virgil from waiting for them to strike. Instead, the blue tailed one started to gesture while speaking, appearing to try and communicate as well, but all Virgil could hear was strange clicking type sounds mixed with some human sounding vowels. As Virgil listened, Virgil understood that the vowels he was hearing served the same function as in human languages, there was almost no full word Virgil heard without the somewhat familiar sounds of a facsimile of a human sound.

When Virgil looked back at the sash wearing mermaid, he recognized the mermaid was glaring at him and he flinched. He didn’t know what he had done, but he would let the mermaid strike him where he was vulnerable, turning sharply, curling into a protective position to protect anything important. Of course, that was before his brain kicked in that the mermaid probably couldn’t get through the bubble and he forgot that Patton was there, who didn’t seem the type to allow the other mermaid to hit him. He hesitantly looking back at the mermaid, only seeing a sort of vulnerable look in their eye, they looked genuinely remorseful for causing Virgil distress.

The one thing Virgil noticed in their lap was an almost human design looking container, there was some writing Virgil couldn’t understand, as well as… what looked like a drop of water and a rock coming out of it. Virgil realized that that meant that the mermaids used regular water, ie. freshwater to possibly do things with, the other medicinal looking supplies around suggesting that it was used in some kind of medicinal way. In the back of Virgil’s mind, he registered that they were trying to figure out why he was so weak and so unhealthy looking.

However, all Virgil could do was start to gesture wildly at the container, his mind screaming for freshwater above all else as he instinctively knew there wasn’t any viable water to drink around him.

The mermaids were initially alarmed and perplexed and alarmed at Virgil’s sudden enthusiasm, but the blue tailed mermaid caught on quite quickly, clicking to the other mer, pointing at the bottle of freshwater.

The sashed mer quickly handed over the bottle to the blue tail, the blue tail saying something, likely trying to communicate exactly what it was to him before giving it to Virgil to consume.

**Virgil just simply reached out desperately for the bottle, fingers surprisingly brushing the edge of the bubble, the sensation making Virgil repress a shudder as he did.** The blue tailed mermaid glanced at the two other mermaids for confirmation before gently pressed the bottle into the bubble, it slowly slipping through. 

Virgil immediately grabbed it, scrambling to open it, though it was sealed tight, likely because cross contamination was very easy when salt water was surrounding you. After what felt like forever, Virgil finally screwed the top off, gulping down the surprisingly cold almost sweet tasting water, it was much sweeter than ocean water at least.

When he finally finished gulping the container down, he looked back at the mermaids, searching for more, but he didn’t see any. The mermaids looked stunned, and Virgil understood a little as to why, as to  _ him, breathing _ underwater and having gills was foreign to him, so though it was normal for him to consume freshwater, he supposed it was completely new for mermaids to do so.

But before anyone could move or speak to address what had just happened, Virgil heard a sound like knocking above them, turning Virgil’s blood cold, the other mermaid had found him. He was- He was-


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan has a very tense encounter with the King's Advisor, public name Deceit.

Logan froze at the sound of knocking above him, everyone had fallen asleep trying to rouse Virgil or find something to do so, but it was still way too early for his sister to be up. Additionally, the knocking was not on the ground near the hatch like his sister would probably accidentally knock on instead, it was slightly more distant. Distinctly on the front door.

Logan put a finger to his lips, grateful when Virgil nodded his head, his chest rising and falling rapidly making quiet and odd sounds, a mutual understanding that everyone needed to be as quiet as possible. Virgil stopped the sound as quickly as he could, only a slight twitch in his torso instead of the big fluctuations and the sound was basically not auditory.

Logan swam up to the door to the basement, willing it to be as silent as possible, managed to only elicit the tiniest of thumps in time with a second set of knocks, making sure there was nothing suspicious. Before Logan moved toward the door, though, he went over to Renee, making sure he looked sleepier than he was, picking her up. Renee mumbled in sleep, eyes flickering open a moment, gripping at Logan’s chest. Logan grabbed the note he left her, slipping it into a jar nearby, swimming over to the door as there was a third set of knocks, the loudest so far. 

**Renee opened her eyes at that, eyes still fluttering closed, but at the very least somewhat aware, meaning whoever was there would hopefully be more lenient in a child’s knowing presence.**

Logan allowed the knocking to cease once more before putting the ‘just woke up to knocking, what do you want’ face on, taking off his glasses, fumbling them onto his face as he opened the door, tail flipping lazily.

“What is it?”

At first Logan, with his glasses off, can’t tell who’s at the door, contributing to his overall ‘just woke up’ demeanor. But he sees it’s a familiar face when he does slip them on, his tail nearly stuttering in fear.

“Jan- Dee?” Logan curses his mistake as Janus glares at him for mentioning his true name. He chose his public name when he became a member of the royal court, and even then, only a few knew his name. Saying his name on the border of public and private with his sister no less? Logan was glad Janus didn’t press further.

“Yes, good morning to you,  _ Logan _ , I wanted to personally be the one to ask, as there has been an act against the King’s wishes, treason, and we are looking for the culprit. Have you seen anyone escorting another mer at all, one of them looking a little peculiar?”

Logan’s stomach dropped, something in Janus’s voice was sharp and divisive, but also warning. 

Logan did his best to look blearily confused, hiding the growing pit in his stomach. 

“Um, no, not particularly, I’ve been inside since about… 4pm yesterday and busy with my sister here, so if whatever occurrence happened after then, I couldn’t have seen whatever you’re talking about.”

Logan subtly held his breath, knowing Janus had the impeccable ability to sense the truth, whether it was being told or withheld in any capacity. Logan just hoped Janus didn’t notice he had completely dodged giving him a straight answer. 

“So did you or did you not see such an occurrence?” Janus subtly leaned in, his tone taking an increasingly prominent warning edge to it. Logan ignored it, pretending he didn’t get the implication.

“Mmmm, no, I haven’t seen anything like that, a strange or peculiar looking mer.” It was true, as Logan had a sneaking suspicion that Virgil was not simply a mer, but something… different. He was immersed in the poison of the Upper Sea, passing through him like mers who’s gills are forced shut, squirming, chest heaving. 

Janus’s eyes narrowed, the very corner of his mouth bowing downwards. Logan knew Janus well enough to know that he had been taken aback, clearly expecting Logan to reveal in his words he was lying, but Logan was telling the truth that he didn’t see a strange looking  _ mer _ , but a strange looking person.

Looking to the average eye to be still unperturbed, Janus looked stone-faced at Logan, looking him straight in the eyes as he reached his hand into his pocket. Logan again nearly stuttered his tail in fear, he did hold Renee a little tighter as he adjusted her grip, shifting in her sleep. Janus had something, something important, some kind of evidence that he was purposefully showing  _ him. _

_ _

**Logan nearly flattened his gills in shock as Janus pulled out a little scrap of fabric, the same color of Patton’s fabric cape. He knew what Janus was going to ask the moment he saw it.**

“You recognize this, perhaps, it was found where the mer in question was last spotted, do you have  _ any idea _ what this could’ve come from?”

Logan forced himself to remain nonchalant, falling into his normal awake demeanor, raising a single eyebrow to Janus. He hoped this would work, but it likely wouldn’t

“Well, as that is a very small piece of what appears to be gray fabric, and there is an abundance of grey fabric in the market at the moment, I cannot say in confidence it could’ve come from any one source.”

Janus smirked, Logan able to tell he sensed some small discrepancy in Logan’s words, digging further into what Logan was hiding, keeping the air of nonchalance.

“Oh, do you know of anyone who owns anything that this could’ve come from?” Logan inwardly scrambled for a way to get out of this, inwardly perking when he realized the perfect way to tell the truth while not revealing that Patton had fled here, which Janus was no doubt assuming and trying to get out of Logan.

Logan looked lost in thought for a moment, thinking of everyone he could think of who he saw with any scrap of grey fabric.

“Well, Barbara a few doors down got a shipment of fabric a few days ago, Colin across from me has a fabric bracelet he was showing a week ago, even my friend Patton. Though, I haven’t seen him in a couple days, so… oh, I hope he’s not who you're looking for, surely whatever happened was in the palace if it’s treason? .. _.Is _ he who you’re looking for?” Janus was completely taken aback, as no doubt he heard the sincerity and no lie in Logan’s voice, getting of on a technicality, as Logan hadn’t seen Patton in a couple days, until he saw him the previous night. It worked enough that Janus appeared to take him at his word.

“I cannot disclose that information, though it’s quite unusual for Patton to be so… distant.” 

Logan simply nodded, bobbing his head subtly while looking over Janus’s shoulder as if he were pondering the concept.

“Quite.”

Janus fell silent, a strained silence nearly breaking the thin veneer of casual investigation of a simple citizen. Before that happened, Janus opened his mouth to speak.

“Well, if that is all you know, I shall take my leave, it was nice to see you again, Logan.”

Logan didn’t trust an audible response to Janus’s words simply nodding, knowing Janus couldn’t discern much from a simple gesture, as at the moment it was very not nice to see Janus.

**“Good day,** **_Dee._ ** **”**

Logan chanced the subtle jab in the slight emphasis in his voice. Janus eyed Logan as he turned, clearly hearing the jab, but seemingly electing to ignore it as he turned and swam away.

Logan watched Janus go, causally closing the door as Janus swam further away, only sighing when the door was closed and Logan was sure he was gone.

Renee finally spoke up, rubbing her eyes a little, her little voice still heavy with sleep.

“Who was that man, Lolo?”

Logan hugged her tight to himself, “Dee, his name is Dee.”

“Okay…”

Logan cursed what he was about to do, as he swore he wouldn't do this to her, but he started to rub her back again, wincing as she closed her eyes once again, slumping back into sleep. He couldn’t allow her to put herself in danger, so he massaged his tail, opening a flap of skin, a pocket able to hold Renee while disguising she was there. He felt his magic course through him as his tail reverted back to its normal state, only a slight bump being any indication that Renee was still there.

Making sure he couldn’t see Janus anywhere in sight, Logan saw over, casually pulling the secret opening lever, joining his friends back in the basement.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil goes home.

Everything was blurry, fuzzy, Virgil didn’t understand.

He had to do something, he heard a voice curling around his thoughts, telling him to go somewhere. But where? 

**_Up_ ** **. The voice said** **.**

Virgil couldn’t exactly argue with the voice… it sounded so sweet and good. He felt like he could trust the voice. Unfortunately, when he tried to move to go up, he met resistance from a bubble. The solution was simple, pop the bubble. 

He heard strange sounds around him he couldn’t understand, so it was easy to ignore it as he deftly grabbed an area of the bubble, punching through it, popping it. Immediately he felt some discomfort in his lungs, but as the voice grew louder, he was able to ignore it, swimming up to the door above him. He felt someone tugging at his foot, but he was able to quickly kick them off, pushing the door open, making a beeline for the door.

Again, he felt someone grab his wrists and try to cover Virgil’s ears, which would deprive Virgil of the voice, so he immediately struggled against them, able to push the front door open, swimming over to follow the voice.

**He saw the source, a familiar face that only spurred him on, the voice in his head yelling** **_Come. Come. Come._ **

It wasn’t until he started to drown that anything registered as vaguely wrong, suddenly, he couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t swim properly anymore, he was  _ so close- _

Suddenly, his mind cleared, realizing where he was, seeing the first mermaid he saw, looking a little afraid, but mouth open and apparently singing. That’s when he realized that Patton was covering his ears, conjuring a ring of bubble around his head, allowing him to breathe again, coughing up a little water inside the bubble.

He recoiled back, registering everything else his song addled mind hadn’t. There was the yellow mermaid that was escorting him before, which made Virgil nearly want to swim to the surface as fast as he could to get away from them. The mermaid was beckoning Virgil, trying to tempt Virgil to come over to them, and Virgil recognized the fogging in his brain to know that something about the mermaid could entrance him at a glance, able to look away quick enough to not have any lasting desire to comply. 

The other mermaid that Virgil had never seen before was linked arm in arm with the yellow and brown spotted tailed mermaid. Their bottom half was like Ursula’s cephalopod like tendrils squirming below the mermaid’s bottom half. 

Virgil somehow felt their names being spoken despite Patton covering his ears as Roman, which his mind supplied as well, something in the voice telling him Roman’s name, swam forwards out of the corner of Virgil’s eyes, unsheathing his sword to protect his friends. 

“ **Remus. Janus.** ” Virgil couldn’t hear or understand what else was said, but watched as who he assumed was Remus swim towards Roman, seeing a morningstar hidden behind his back, extending a hand out, giving the pretense of being friendly, which Roman rightly looked suspicious of. 

Virgil knew he was the only one who could see Remus’s hidden weapon, as Patton couldn’t see Remus from behind Virgil. So Virgil, acting on instinct, feeling a strong sense of protectiveness, even though he barely knew anyone, barely had gotten to know who they were, Virgil squirmed out of Patton’s grasp, knowing and seeing that the singing mermaid had given up, not singing anymore.

He ignored how the bubble around his head popped, having already taken a huge breath in preparation. He pumped his legs as fast as he could, pushing Roman back, watching in slow motion the path of the morning star towards him, bracing for impact….

**But it never came, Virgil opened his eyes to see a light shining around him, it wasn’t coming from him, but Virgil was surrounded by what appeared to be a protective barrier.** He looked around, seeing Remus nursing a bruise from his own morningstar from the rebound, then looking back to his friends for any explanation, but they looked just as confused as he was.

Suddenly, a voice from all around Virgil spoke to him, he couldn’t tell if the other’s heard it, but he heard the voice speak to him as clear as day. The voice was indescribable, Virgil couldn’t place how it sounded, just that it  _ was. _

“Virgil, you are the first of many humans to show such compassion, such love for those you do not know. You have proven yourself, and fulfilled a role you did not seek to fill, but filled anyway. I placed a curse on merpeople and humans alike, one on the humans so they did not know of their friends and a similar one on the merpeople so they would be forced into the depths, their lungs useless and the air above poisonous. You have shown that mankind is not as callous as they appear to be, as have your friends shown not all merpeople are as callous as they appear to be working together. I shall take you and your friends somewhere where they cannot hurt you. Thank you, Virgil, for being the one to warm this old sea’s heart.”

Virgil felt a sense of joy well up in him, a warm realization that the embodiment of the ocean  _ itself _ was speaking to him. 

He turned to his friends, strangely now able to breathe, seeing as he was still immersed in water even in whatever the strange light was, his hand slipping easily into Patton’s as Patton swam up beside him. All of his new friends were smiling now, looking around at the oceans’ light in awe. Roman started laughing and the ocean informed Virgil that the other merperson’s name was Logan, Virgil marveling at the distinction of before, his face neutral and almost blank, now alight with joy and happiness. Virgil wondered what the others were hearing

Virgil didn’t pay attention as Janus placed his hand on the sphere, pounding on it in anger, face instead full of sadness, anger, failure written across his features. Roman didn’t notice his brother nursing his self inflicted wound on his head.

All he noticed he noticed was the light vibrating around them, all of them disappearing in a flash of light, leaving nothing behind.

And when Virgil opened his eyes, he was home.


End file.
